Matthew Johns group sex woman in hiding
AAP
May 19, 2009 07:43pm
 'Nightmare' ... Four Corners said Clare was distressed at the media response following her revelations about a group sex incident involving Matthew Johns, pictured / Bohdan Warchomij |
- Woman unhappy with media response
- "Being harassed in the most awful ways"
- "Feels like I am living in a nightmare"
- NRL groupie: 'I'm no angel'
THE New Zealand woman at the centre of the Matthew Johnsgroup sex scandal is in hiding, "living in a nightmare" after her revelations.
ABC's Four Corners released a statement late today saying it wanted to answer a number of questions which had arisen in response to its story, aired last week, on new details of a 2002 group sex incident involving Johns in New Zealand.
Johns was one of several Cronulla players involved in the group sex act involving a 19-year-old woman, identified only as Clare, in Christchurch.
Four Corners said Clare was distressed at the media response towards her following the program.
"I am being harassed in the most awful ways and what is being reported by jornalists (sic) is horrible and untrue," the ABC statement reported Clare as saying.
"They have got people speaking of me that are not my friends or people I have never met.
"It feels like I am living in a nightmare. All I wanted to do was to make people aware of the culture and stop it happening to other girls."
At the time, New Zealand police investigated the woman's claims that the sex was not consensual, but all the players were cleared of any wrongdoing.
NZ police have since said they would not re-open the investigation, saying there was no new information.
Four Corners said the program's focus was to show the "role of group sex in rugby league culture and the consequences for the woman involved", not any criminality or consent issues.
The program said Clare was not paid for the interview and had not boasted about "fallout" from the story.
"Payment is contrary to ABC Editorial guidelines. Her only requirement was that we protect her identity," it said.
"She is in hiding from the media, and has made no comment about the consequences of the story for others."
The Four Corners report left Johns' media and NRL coaching career in tatters.
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